Here’s Who Says the US Is Not Headed in the Right Direction

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As the presidential debate season intensifies, small-business owners are pessimistic about the business climate and feel America is on the wrong track, according to a new survey.

The wide-ranging survey, “Opinions of Small Employers,” from the conservative-leaning National Federation of Independent Business released Monday found nearly 70 percent of small-business owners believe the overall U.S. business climate is fair or poor. What’s more, six years out of the Great Recession, 63 percent of those polled said the country is on the wrong track. The NFIB surveyed 500 business owners with up to 250 employees.

“Small-business owners just aren’t convinced that things are headed in the right direction,” said Holly Wade, director of research at the NFIB. The survey was conducted during the second quarter of this year.

The report comes as optimism among small businesses is holding steady, but still lingering below historical averages.The NFIB’s Small Business Optimism Index for September, released separately Tuesday, found confidence edged up slightly to 96.1 last month. But fewer business owners expect strong sales.

Looking ahead to the 2016 election year, the NFIB found business owners believe Washington should prioritize dealing with the federal budget as their top economic problem with a third of the vote, followed by slowing the rise of health-care costs with 23 percent and reforming the federal tax code with 18 percent. (Read more from “Here’s Who Says the US Is Not Headed in the Right Direction” HERE)

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Obama: European Discovery of New World Introduced ‘Disease, Devastation and Violence’ [+video]

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By Penny Starr. In a proclamation marking Columbus Day issued by the White House on Friday, President Barack Obama said that while the federal holiday recognizes the accomplishments of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus and his discovery of the New World, it is marred by mistreatment of indigenous people.

“Though these early travels expanded the realm of European exploration, to many they also marked a time that forever changed the world for the indigenous peoples of North America,” Obama wrote. “Previously unseen disease, devastation, and violence were introduced to their lives — and as we pay tribute to the ways in which Columbus pursued ambitious goals — we also recognize the suffering inflicted upon Native Americans and we recommit to strengthening tribal sovereignty and maintaining our strong ties.”

Obama noted that Columbus’ curious nature has become part of the national “spirit” and highlighted his ethnic heritage. (Read more from “Obama: European Discovery of New World Introduced ‘Disease, Devastation and Violence'” HERE)

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Farrakhan on Columbus Day: ‘No Indigenous People Want to Celebrate ‘the Wicked One’ Who ‘Dislodged Them’

By CNS News. Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan called Christopher Columbus “the wicked one.”

(Read more from this story HERE)

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Ben Carson on the ‘End of Days’

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By Al Weaver. Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson has weighed in on whether the world is coming to an end.

During a Sunday interview with new TV host Sharyl Attkisson, the former neurosurgeon said that one could “guess that we are getting closer” to the end of the world as we know it if we are approaching the Biblical “end of days” . . .

“Do you think we’re at the end of days?” Attkisson asked.

“You could guess that we are getting closer to that,” Carson said. “You do have people who have a belief system that sees this apocalyptic phenomenon occurring, and that they’re a part of it, and who would not hesitate to use nuclear weapons if they gain possession.”

The former CBS News investigative reporter went on to ask the 2016 hopeful if there is “a chance to change the course,” noting that it is “something that is prophesied.” (Read more from “Ben Carson on the ‘End of Days'” HERE)

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Ben Carson: We’re ‘Closer’ to End of Days

By Tal Kopan. Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson says the world could be approaching its end — but we may be able to change course.

When Carson was asked by journalist Sharyl Attkisson if he believed the “end of days” was near, he said, “You could guess that we are getting closer to that. . .”

Attkisson was asking the devout Carson about his faith and feelings about religion and asked how he felt the state of the world today relates to what’s in the Bible.

She followed up by asking if the end times could be avoided or whether it is prophesied. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Carson Says Mainstream Media Can’t Stand the Thought of a Black Conservative

By Adelle Nazarian. Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson says one of his predictions is coming true: The mainstream media is manipulating reality, based on its ideological underpinnings, to come after him during his presidential campaign.

“They’re actually playing right into the narrative that I have predicted for them,” Carson told host Matt Boyle on Breitbart News Sunday. “Because they can’t stand the thought of a black person who is a conservative, who hasn’t had to make it on their handout and be at their beck and call and doing the things that they want them to do. It just infuriates them.”

Carson’s comment came in response to Boyle’s request that he weigh in on the hypocrisy inherent in Daily Show host Trevor Noah’s recent criticism of Carson for saying he would defend himself by fighting back against the gunman in the deadly Oregon shooting on his show, only to admit on a different outlet that the neurosurgeon was correct.

Carson said Noah, along with the mainstream media, lack the quality of “integrity” that would allow for him to admit on his own show that he was wrong suggesting that there’s very little of that value in the mainstream media.

So none of that surprises me. In fact, because I fly in the face of the secular, progressive ideology, I expect them to continue to attack me constantly. The only thing that they don’t seem to be bright enough to realize that the more they attack me, the stronger I get. People expect them to do that.

(Read more from this story HERE)

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LAS VEGAS SHOWDOWN: Pressure on Clinton to Keep Rivals at Bay — and Biden on Sidelines — in 1st Debate

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Hillary Clinton faces heavy pressure during the first Democratic presidential debate Tuesday to outperform primary rivals cutting into her lead and perhaps keep her biggest potential challenger on the sidelines.

Vice President Biden, still mulling a bid, is not expected to be on stage in Las Vegas. But he’ll surely be watching as the former secretary of state spars in person for the first time with her 2016 Democratic opponents . . .

Most recently, Clinton has taken jabs from Democrats for coming out just last week against a major Pacific nation trade deal. In a taste of what awaits her on the debate stage, underdog rival Martin O’Malley noted he opposed the deal eight months ago, and didn’t just come out against it “on the eve of a debate … because polling told me to do it.”

A big question for Clinton on Tuesday night is whether she can shake that image and in doing so counter the ‘draft Biden’ push by showing she’s not so vulnerable after all.

Joe Desilets, managing partner for the Republican-leaning 21st & Main strategy firm, said that Clinton must “reintroduce herself to her Democratic base and to the country at-large,” if she’s going to change the narrative. (Read more from “LAS VEGAS SHOWDOWN: Pressure on Clinton to Keep Rivals at Bay — and Biden on Sidelines — in 1st Debate” HERE)

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What It Would Take for Paul Ryan to Run

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By Jake Sherman. Paul Ryan has made it abundantly clear he does not want to be speaker of the House. He enjoys the wonkery that comes with being Ways and Means chairman and believes he’d lose that as ringleader of the unwieldy Republican Conference.

But there’s one remote scenario, people close to him say, in which Ryan would consider abandoning his long-laid career plans and go for the speakership: if he was the true consensus choice of the party. That means no opposition, no sniping, no acceding to demands in exchange for support.

Republicans — including the hard-liners who pushed out John Boehner and convinced Rep. Kevin McCarthy to drop his bid for speaker — would need to show they’re prepared to follow Ryan.

There are some early signs that may be possible, though the sentiment on the right about Ryan is not unanimous. Two leaders of the conservative House Freedom Caucus — Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan and South Carolina Rep. Mick Mulvaney — indicated over the weekend that they could be comfortable with a Speaker Ryan. Mulvaney said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that Ryan would “be a good speaker,” and Jordan said on “Fox News Sunday” that the 40-member caucus would “look favorably” on Ryan.

But both said they would ask Ryan whether he would commit to a host of changes to the institution’s rules. The Freedom Caucus is insisting that the next speaker run a more bottom-up operation — more floor votes on conservative legislation even if it lacks the votes to pass, less cracking down on members who buck leadership. (Read more from “What It Would Take for Paul Ryan to Run” HERE)

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Mike Allen: White House Would Like Ryan as Speaker

By Charlie Spiering. Politico’s Mike Allen thinks President Barack Obama likes the idea of Rep. Paul Ryan for Speaker.

“The White House would like that idea,” Allen said during an interview with Laura Ingraham on her radio show today. “Because they would like one more win … what they’ve always told me is that they admire Paul Ryan for being a substantive, smart guy.”

Speaking to business leaders in Washington D.C. last month, Obama acknowledged that his administration was working with Ryan to negotiate some level of tax reform, even though Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell disagreed.

“To his credit, Paul Ryan expressed real interest in discussions and negotiations,” Obama said during his remarks to the Business Roundtable Headquarters in September.

But the administration’s relationship with Ryan wasn’t always so close, especially after he challenged Obama on health reform during a 2010 public forum. (Read more from this story HERE)

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This Is What Obama Is Blaming the Outcry From Hillary Clinton’s Email ‘Mistake’ on

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President Obama said Sunday that Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server to conduct her correspondence while secretary of state was a “mistake,” but denied that U.S. national security had been jeopardized as a result.

“She made a mistake. She has acknowledged it. I do think that the way it’s been ginned up is in part because of politics,” Obama said in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes.” “I think she’d be the first to acknowledge that maybe she could have handled the original decision better and the disclosures more quickly.”

Obama added that he was not initially aware that Clinton was using the private server, which was kept at her home in Chappaqua, N.Y., as opposed to a professional data center. When CBS’ Steve Kroft pointed out that the Obama administration has prosecuted people for having classified material on their private computers, the president said he didn’t get the impression there was an intent to “hide something or to squirrel away information.”

The FBI is currently investigating whether classified information that passed through Clinton’s server was mishandled. Last week, the bureau extended its investigation to obtaining data from a second tech company, which had been hired by another firm in 2013 to back up data on Clinton’s server. (Read more from “This Is What Obama Is Blaming the Outcry From Hillary Clinton’s Email ‘Mistake’ on” HERE)

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Trump Says People Will Turn off Today’s Democratic Primary Debate Because He’s Not in It – You’ll Never Guess Who Agrees

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Tuesday’s first Democratic presidential primary debate will be a low-ratings snoozefest, according to Donald Trump – because he won’t be on the stage in Las Vegas.

And a CNN executive is hinting that he might be completely right.

‘I think people are going to turn it on for a couple of minutes and then fall asleep,’ The Donald said Monday morning on ‘Fox and Friends’ . . .

‘I don’t want to say this in a braggadocious way, but a person at CNN and a couple of other people said, ‘We have to put Donald Trump in this debate. We’re going to die with it’,’ Trump claimed.

‘Let’s see,’ he said. ‘I don’t think they’ll do badly, because there is a curiosity factor. I don’t think they’re going to do great, and I think a lot of people will turn off after a little while.’ (Read more from “Trump Says People Will Turn off Today’s Democratic Primary Debate Because He’s Not in It – You’ll Never Guess Who Agrees” HERE)

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Obama: I Could Win Third Term as President, But…

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President Obama insisted that he could run and win a third term as president if he wanted to, but assured Americans that he would follow the lead of previous presidents before him.

When asked directly by Steve Kroft in a 60 Minutes interview if he could win a third term as president he replied without hesitation, “Yes. I do” . . .

But he compared his own struggle with that of the nation’s first president, George Washington, to explain why he would step down.

“I think having a fresh set of legs in this seat, I think having a fresh perspective, new personnel and new ideas and a new conversation with the American people about issues that may be different a year from now than they were when I started eight years ago, I think that’s all good for our democracy,” he concluded. (Read more from “Obama: I Could Win Third Term as President, But…” HERE)

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More Republicans Join Speakership Race as Paul Ryan’s Nascent Campaign Falls Apart on the Runway

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Several Republicans who aren’t as closely associated with outgoing House Speaker Rep. John Boehner as House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan are considering running for Speaker as Ryan’s nascent campaign is crumbling before it even begins.

The two who have, at this time, the most likely ability to unite the GOP conference and achieve well more than the necessary 218 votes on the House floor are House Energy and Commerce Committee vice chairwoman Rep. Marsha Blackburn and former House Chief Deputy Whip Rep. Peter Roskam. Other Republicans like Reps. Rep. Matt Salmon, Rep. Ryan Zinke, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, and even current non-House member former Speaker Newt Gingrich are considering bids. More names than those have been tossed out, too.

“Marsha has heard from a lot of people who are encouraging her to run,” Blackburn spokesman Mike Reynard told Breitbart News on Friday. “Right now she is listening and having conversations with her colleagues about what is the best way to unite our conference moving forward.”

Blackburn, who would if elected be the first female GOP Speaker of the House ever, will be joining Breitbart News Sunday on SiriusXM Patriot Ch. 125 on Sunday evening to discuss this topic in greater depth.

A House GOP aide also confirmed to Breitbart News that Roskam is considering a bid for the Speakership. A former member of leadership, he lost the bid for House Majority Whip to current Whip Rep. Steve Scalise after former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was driven out of Congress. Roskam was supported in that bid by conservatives like Rep. Steve King, the chairman of the Conservative Opportunity Society, because he was pledging not to back any amnesty bill while Scalise wouldn’t make such a pledge. Roskam also has something unique to his résumé: He is the only current GOP member of Congress to have served in the Illinois state Senate opposite Barack Obama, which would allow him to detail how he’s fought Obama and won before and how he plans to do it again in the House leadership. (Read more from “More Republicans Join Speakership Race as Paul Ryan’s Nascent Campaign Falls Apart on the Runway” HERE)

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This ‘Offensive’ T-Shirt Sent Home an 8th Grader From School

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A Gresham, Oregon school – Dexter McCarty Middle School – sent home an 8th grader because he was wearing a t-shirt that featured the “Battlefield Cross” memorial used for fallen military members. That actual reason was that the t-shirt had a gun on it . . .

The principle had given Alan an ultimatum- change his clothes or leave school. He refused to change his clothes, so they called his father and he left the school.

The school stated that it was “inappropriate” to have a t-shirt with a gun on it in a “school setting.” Their decision came a few days after a major shooting at an Oregon Community College. But was it based on irrational fear of guns, or something else?

Alan Holmes’ brother is in the U.S. Marine Corps. Wearing the shirt was a source of patriotic pride for the 8th grader. He plans to do some research into the memorial used by our troops to remember fallen military members.

Alan Holmes is not the only one – schools across the nation have been ratcheting down on kids and college students for wearing any sort of t-shirt with a patriotic theme, whether it’s for supporting our troops or an American flag. (Read more from “This ‘Offensive’ T-Shirt Sent Home an 8th Grader From School” HERE)

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